Reno County Commissioners were divided on pay raises for those employees at the top of the step pay scale during Tuesday’s budget meeting.
The discussion came up during the commissions first look at the 2014 budget. They want to hold the mill levy at 38.5-mills. The county is seeing a revenue increase through higher valuations in the county which will pump about 890-thousand more dollars into the budget.
While all three commissioners were in agreement that the county needed to give step increases to employees, Commissioners Brad Dillon and James Schlickau both indicated that the county should not give cost of living adjustments to those at the top of the pay scale. Commission Chairman Dan Deming is pushing for the raises which would run anywhere from 19-thousand to 38-thousand dollars. But, Dillon and Schlickau held firm against giving the cost of living adjustments.
The step increases which goes into the budget represent the first such raises in a number of years. Cost of those increases to the budget is about 282-thousand dollars.
A public hearing on the budget is tentatively set for August 20.